in a political sense, while self-reliance has been given an industrial connotation. The American has been an individualist even more in the industrial than in the political field. He has not hesitated-unless in some instances in recent years-to swing the axe, to follow the plough, to span the continent, to project the sky-scraper. He has become a man of action and a personification of la vie intense-the strenuous life. As Emerson has indicated, the average American has walked on his own feet, worked with his own hands, and spoken from his own mind.

The

The American has been unafraid to develop blistered or calloused hands; he has not been ashamed of the insignia of honest toil. He has worshipped the man who is doing things, who is achieving, who is climbing the ladder of success. Moreover, he has thrown off his coat, set his jaws, drawn his belt taut, and plunged upward, round after round." American youth has been perennially stimulated by the dream of becoming President of the United States, knowing that such a distinction was possible to any American of honesty and of sufficient ability. Lincoln is a favorite among Americans because he rose through his own consistent efforts to the heights of fame and service from the depths of poverty and obscurity. Roosevelt's powerful appeal to Americans developed chiefly from his independence of judgment, fearlessness of statement, and strenuousness of attack. Daring to show his teeth in the pres

"Unhappily, such self-reliance occasionally has developed a degree of social impudence.

ence of special privilege, he won a place among America's immortals.

The American has been willing to try anything once-trusting to his own versatility to get out of unforeseen predicaments. Strange and harsh circumstances have challenged his spirit of self-reliance until inventions have burst forth from his mind in all directions and enabled him to defy and overcome the forces of ocean, land, and air. The annual output of inventions in the United States probably excels that of all other countries of the world combined. Under the American's inventive touch, the telegraph and the telephone have been developed until persons can converse without the aid of wires and in ordinary tones across the continental expanse between New York and San Francisco. The phonograph has been evolved until skilled musicians in a concert hall are baffled to tell whether an artist's voice is proceeding from the artist himself or from the wonder-producing machine beside which he stands. The overland train has reached the perfected combination of the untiring speed of the carrier pigeon and the comforts of a palatial home. Seen by only a few Americans, experimenting methodically in an unspectacular laboratory, Thomas A. Edison is easily one of America's greatest citizens. Supporting the liberty-loving and self-reliant leaders. from Franklin to Edison, from Washington to Roosevelt and Wilson, an innumerable company of humble American fathers and mothers have lived and worked, heroically opening a new continent and bequeathing magnificent and multitudinous oppor

tunities for self-development to their children.

Self-direction- this has been the American's rugged desire. Behind an over-emphasis upon commercialism is not a sodden nature but a self-initiative run wild. Behind ugly lynch-procedure is not wanton brutality so much as the rash attempt to render justice oneself without waiting for the slow procedure of law.

The rewards to self-reliance and self-initiative in America have often defied computation. Consequently, a boundless optimism has run riot. If defeated, the American gathers together his frustrated forces and begins over again. Everywhere the American's face has shown with the reflection of the rising sun of expectation. Everywhere the Goddess of Liberty has held aloft her precious torch of liberty and self-reliance. Everywhere the Liberty Bell has pealed forth its notes of freedom. Everywhere the independent and sturdy figure of Uncle Sam is revered. Everywhere Americanism has stood for self-expression, self-direction, self-perfection. If these ideals have become somewhat tarnished, let Americans unite in restoring to them their original lustre.

CHAPTER III

AMERICAN TRAITS: UNION AND CO-OPERATION

In the life-work of Washington and Jefferson the struggle for liberty was inseparably bound with the contest for union; Washington and Jefferson fought for both liberty and union-union as a means of guaranteeing liberty. At the beginning of the struggle for union, Alexander Hamilton stood forth with unfaltering boldness. His work will be epitomized in introducing the achievements of Washington as the first President of the United States.

With steadfast loyalty to the need of establishing a political union, Hamilton lived and spoke and wrote-always ably-until his chief, and ours, in his Farewell Address, incorporated a panegyric in its behalf. The difficulties which faced Hamilton were grave. The liberty which the freedom-loving colonist sought was for the individual and the individual colony. Each colony was reluctant to join with the other commonwealths even in a loose and temporary confederation. The Articles of Confederation made Congress a constitutional body and included the principle of equality of representation. It was only after several years of convincingly unsatisfactory experiences with a confederation that recognition was given to the Hamiltonian idea of a union. Under the name of "Publius," and in

a series of essays, known as "The Federalist," Hamilton advocated the formation of the Union. Through a brilliant series of debates, he succeeded fin swinging his own pivotal state of New York into 'line; whereupon the fruits of victory began to appear. In the preamble of the Constitution of the United States, the need of establishing "a more perfect Union" was given first place. The change from a confederacy to a federalcy gave the Union a rank equal in importance to that of liberty in our history. To guarantee opportunity for the liberty, development, and expression of human personalities, a union was necessary.

Hamilton helped not only to inaugurate the Union, but to secure its firm establishment. By his financial acumen, he made certain the success of the national government. He created a public credit, supplied circulating media and financial machinery, revived business and aided in transforming a paper Constitution into a document with a system and a government behind it.1 Hamilton put Nationalism into Americanism.

The super-champion in the establishment of the American Union was Washington. He laid the national foundations without the aid of a throne, of an aristocracy, or of a caste. In the Farewell Address, he focused public attention upon the necessity of supporting the Union, and declared to the American people that the Union is a main pillar in the edifice of their real independence, the support of their safety, tranquility, and prosperity at home, 'H. C. Lodge, Alexander Hamilton, p. 132.